Greg Hunt the Federal Environment Minister and Rob Stokes, the NSW Environment Minister held a press conference at the Randwick Golf Club at Malabar on Thursday 18 March (Malabar Headland in the background) to announce that the Eastern Bush would be made into a National Park.
Representatives of the horse riding community were present. However the Friends of Malabar Headland, who have worked tirelessly for 14 years to protect the Eastern Bush from both human development and invasive weeds, were not invited.
Leesha McKenny then wrote an article for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Friends of Malabar Headland Chairperson David Pyett issued a statement in response to the announcement:
We cautiously welcome the latest announcement, but we remain skeptical until we see documented proof of a commitment of money in the budget to build a new Shooting Range elsewhere and to move the shooters to their new site. Nothing will happen to the Eastern Bush until the shooters have gone, as the Eastern Bush forms part of the Safety Template for the Shooting Range. That means that it will not become a National Park any time soon; Greg Hunt is fully aware of this fact.
At the moment, the Shooters have a licence to shoot at any time, seven days per week, between 9am and 5pm. The Commonwealth – landowner of Malabar Headland – have repeatedly told us that the Eastern Section of bush cannot be handed over as National Park until the Shooters have moved; indeed they have banned our group from weeding in the Eastern bush on days when there is no shooting, as per our previous arrangement for 14 years.
We were not invited to attend this morning’s announcement.
Note: On a target shooting range, the safety template is the area behind and adjacent to the targets that stray or ricocheting bullets might enter. When the range is in use, no one can safely enter the safety template.
At Malabar Headland, the operational range is the long, full bore range on the northern side of the site. The safety template of this range extends east, north and south of the targets. It includes the scenic walking track along the coast from South Maroubra to Magic Point and the beautiful bushland to the west of the track – that is, some of the finest bushland and most magnificent scenery in the proposed national park land.
Friends of Malabar Headland 
Thanks so much for continuing the fight to save our beloved Headland. I’ve moved up the coast to Elizabeth Beach but although there’s plenty of National Park, there really nothing like Malabar here – the variety, the amazing rock formations, and for bad dogs like us the chance to run free. The hypocrisy and duplicity of successive governments ‘consultation’ and ‘preservation’ spin still amazes me – naive critter that I am!
Not all rifle ranges have to have a safety template at all. The Government could re build ANZAC Rifle Range as a no danger area range by building a sufficient barrier behind the stop butt and therefore open the headland up to the public without interfering with the normal operations of the range. However I suspect FOMH would then find something else to moan about. What you mob fail to recognise is the fact that the ONLY reason Malabar Headland is in the condition it is, is because of the existence of the rifle range for the last 150 years, otherwise the whole joint would look like the headland at North Coogee or Manly with multi storey monstrosities everywhere!
Thanks for the comments. We welcome all your thoughts on the future of the Headland. FoMH has always understood and acknowledged that the rifle range and the past military uses of the headland have indeed saved it from development so far. The pristine nature of the bushland on the headland is almost solely down to the efforts of FoMH members who have weeded and regenerated it for almost 30 years.
Perhaps the state and commonwealth governments are planning to build a “sufficient barrier behind the stop butt” so they can handover the new eastern national park by June 30 this year as they have promised? Perhaps they plan to hand out flack jackets and tin hats for the visitors to the new eastern national park? We dont know what what they are planning, or how they can safely deliver on their promises.
i don’t know if this is new news or not, but last night during a night time endurance trial run through the headland we came across a echidna at the base of a bush sleeping.
Is this the first or have they been seen before because it’s the 1st one I’ve seen in the wild.
It was witnessed by three runners.
Hi Steve
We referred your report to National Parks & Wildlife. Their reply:
“Our experience at Botany Bay NP is that they are brought into Sydney and released.
The sightings are intermittent so I don’t think that a population ever establishes.”
Thanks for reporting this. If you ever see an echidna again, please let us know where the sighting was and if, possible take a photograph.
Peter F